Universal: Volcano Bay helps boost theme parks' revenue in Q4

Russ Dagon, Senior Vice President of Resort Development for Universal Creative, talks about what is coming in 2018 for the new Aventura Hotel, under construction as Universal Orlando’s tallest hotel to date. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Russ Dagon, Senior Vice President of Resort Development for Universal Creative, talks about what is coming in 2018 for the new Aventura Hotel, under construction as Universal Orlando’s tallest hotel to date. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

For the fourth quarter, the theme-park division posted nearly $1.5 billion in revenue, up about 9 percent from the fourth quarter in 2016.

The company credited the increase to 2017 openings of Minion Park in Japan and Orlando’s Volcano Bay, as well as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter that opened in 2016 in Hollywood.

“I want to underscore how pleased we are with our Japan investment from just two years ago,” said Comcast CEO and chairman Brian Roberts during Wednesday’s conference call to investors.

Roberts said he visited Orlando a few weeks ago. “Icame away feeling even more bullish on our outlook from the parks,” he said, looking ahead to when Volcano Bay is open for a full year in May 2018 and the new Fast & Furious — Supercharged ride debuts in Orlando.

Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for theme parks jumped 8.9 percent to $2.4 billion compared with 2016, because of higher revenue that offset some operating-expense increases. Some of the higher expenses were from the new attractions, the company said in a release.

About 18,000 Universal employees in Orlando are among 100,000 or so Comcast employees who this week are receiving $1,000 bonuses that the company attributed to tax cuts and FCC changes.

The company’s theme-park division is coming off a strong third quarter, when revenue grew by 7.7 percent to $1.6 billion, the company said in October.

Plenty of changes appeared at Universal Orlando Resort during the holiday season. In November, the Orlando resort unveiled a new parade, Universal’s Holiday Parade Featuring Macy’s, which featured self-propelled floats, balloons, stilt walkers and dancers. The holidays arrived at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time as a projection show played on Hogwarts Castle overlooking Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure.

This year, the new ride Fast & Furious — Supercharged will start in Orlando, although no official opening date has been set.

Universal Orlando is also building Aventura, a 16-story, 600-unit hotel, set to open in August.